Preserving, enjoying, and riding three speed hub-geared bicycles.

The return of the Wayfarer.

It’s not something I’m particularly proud of, being the Presidente of Society of Three Speeds, but I have to admit it: I haven’t ridden a three speed much (if at all) this winter. Why? Well, I did new things to the XO-3 and Crested Butte, my derailleured bikes, so I was more inclined to ride them and “put them through the paces”, as they would say. The Raleigh Wayfarer languished by the wayside. Feeling guilty, I pulled out the Wayfarer one day in January, and the next day the rear tire was flat. Oh well.. I meant to fix the puncture, but I’m lazy about this stuff, especially on a three-speed, especially when I had two other functioning bikes to choose from. Finally I got around to fixing the flat last week and rode it around the neighborhood one frigid day. Then the snow came, and the other two bikes were more appropriate for the conditions.

But there were no excuses on Wednesday, so I pulled out the Wayfarer for errands and rambles. The Three Speed Ride is coming up (Saturday March 8!) and I need to plan it. I had done some preliminary routings at home on the coumputer. And while I’m confident enough in my abilities and knowledge of the city to make a route map via something like RideWithGPS, it’s still good to get out there and “ground truth” it. Because usually what will happen is I’ll go off on a tangent, remember some little nook and cranny that would be an interesting part of my ride, discover something new, etc. And these are the types of rides I want to lead, vs something dry and boring.

And it really felt good to be on my trusty steel steed again. I love the upright riding position, the class, the simplicity of three speeds. I rarely shift on this bike, vs shifting for each stop on a derailleured bike. Why has it been so long since I rode you, Wayfarer? I promise it won’t be so long until the next time I ride you. There’s lots of fun things I plan on doing to this bike in the future, stay tuned for updates.